Cheers and screams of “we want action” could be heard throughout the Campus Center area at Ithaca College Wednesday evening as about 300 people rallied at Free Speech Rock in support of contingent faculty.

Signs reading “Invest in our teachers,” “Equal pay for equal work,” and “Faculty forward” were scattered throughout the crowd as several people spoke in support of the Ithaca College Contingent Faculty Union/SEIU Local 200United, which has been attempting to negotiate its first contract with the college since Oct. 23, 2015.

The rally took place as the college’s board of trustees began three days of meetings. Speakers shared the union’s most important issues, which include an increase in the standard one-year contracts for contingent faculty, better pay and improved benefits. Earlier in the day, students in support of the contingent faculty launched a Facebook page titled IC Students for Labor Action to share stories from faculty members.

“Often we use very sanitized language to describe institutions of higher learning, ivory towers we call them. The reality is far grimmer,” said Russell Rickford, a guest speaker and professor at Cornell University. “American higher education has become an empire of exploitation. Our campuses increasingly resemble corporate outposts.

“We see a proliferation of high paid administrators even as the numbers of vulnerable and underpaid instructors grows.”

According to the college, approximately 14.6 percent of class sections, and 15.1 percent of credit hours, are taught by faculty teaching on part-time, per-course contracts. Ithaca College currently pays $4,200 for the instruction of a three-credit course.

Union representatives walked out of negotiations with the college Sept. 23 after the college proposed using a federal mediator; the two sides have not met since. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday.

Senior Vice President Nancy Pringle, Provost Linda Petrosino, and Professor Gwen Seaquist, representatives of the Ithaca College bargaining committee, posted a lengthy public message on the college’s human resources webpage Tuesday to share the college’s side of the negotiations. The college claims its salary structure is comparable to similar colleges.

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Students and faculty rally for contingent faculty in October at Free Speech Rock on the Ithaca College campus.(Photo: Matt Weinstein / staff photo)

“The union has argued that it wants Ithaca College to be at the forefront of a nationwide change, the first to adopt a completely new compensation model,” the message read. “The union is advocating for part-time per-course faculty to be paid per credit hour at a level that is equivalent to the salaries of their full-time colleagues. However, a credit-hour comparison with full-time faculty salaries is invalid because they are not asked to do the same work.”

The message also stated that the two sides have reached tentative agreements on 18 out of 26 proposals under review.

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Students and faculty rally for contingent faculty on Wednesday at Free Speech Rock on the Ithaca College campus.(Photo: Matt Weinstein / staff photo)

Board of trustees chairman Tom Grape released a statement to the campus community earlier this week addressing several topics and concluded it with a comment on the labor negotiations.

“Finally, I would like our community to know that the board has remained abreast of the challenges that the college and the part-time faculty union are experiencing in their first contract negotiation. We remain optimistic that future bargaining sessions will be productive, and that the college and the union will arrive together at a fair and equitable agreement that supports the needs of our students, faculty, and the institution as a whole.”